Feliz Cumple a Mi

Today is my 21st birthday!!! I have been waiting for this day to come for probably the past 4 years and happy as I am to be 21, I still feel just a little bit sad that I can't be spending it with my family and friends at home. With that being said, my host parents have been an amazing otra familia for me, and I was greeted this morning with a huge hug and present from my host mom Antonieta, she gave me a cute little hand crafted box and a flower. Our housekeeper also was excited to show me the cake she made for me, and I am excited to eat it tonight with some friends!!
The past few weeks have been amazing, and it's hard to believe that next week it will already be May, and my trip will almost be halfway done! Last week I only went to class one day, due to a cancellation, exchange student meeting, hurricane-like weather (I will explain more later), and semana santa, or Holy Week. It was a nice break not to go to class, but it really turned me off even more to going to school, which isn't so good. The hurricane blew into Valdivia on Thursday, and it was so bad that school got canceled. We actually did end up going to campus for a little bit in the morning, but with 100 km/hour winds and rain at the same time, even with rain boots and an umbrella I was soaked by the time we got there. A tree fell down over a power line around 12pm, and all of Isla Teja (where I live) was powerless until about 1030 PM that night. So me and Lena played cards until it got too dark to see and then hung out with my family for a little while.
This weekend was Easter weekend, and many Chilean families go on a mini vacation for the weekend, since there is not class or work on Friday. My family took me on a trip as well, and we stayed in a cabin in the town of Lican-Ray, which is close to Pucón. Lican-Ray is absolutely beautiful and is situated on a huge lake at the foot of a volcano, so the sand is black from the volcanic ash. There are also mountains surrounding the lake and huge waterfalls can be seen coming out of the mountains and into the lake. It's really amazing. My family took me to some thermal springs, which were amazing as well. They were basically a huge pool with naturally heated mineral water in them. I stayed in the one that was about 38 degrees Celsius, which felt so nice on my cold body, the air was freezing!! Even though I am in South America, it is really chilly! I am closer to Antarctica than the Equator so all of you who think I am relaxing in the South American jungle are very wrong :)
For my birthday today, we are heading to the Bunker, which is a restaurant/bar literally down the street from my house. They have really delicious potatoes and hamburgers, and today they have a 2x1 happy hour, which I plan on taking full advantage of!

My favorite pic from this weekend, even though it was cloudy/foggy, the lake was still beautiful!